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An fMRI study of decision-making under conflict in individuals with autism spectrum condition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

S. Tei  and
J. Fujino
S. Tei*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Institute Of Applied Brain Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan School Of Human And Social Sciences, Tokyo International University, Saitama, Japan Medical Institute Of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
J. Fujino
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Medical Institute Of Developmental Disabilities Research, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan Department Of Psychiatry And Behavioral Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Individuals with autism spectrum condition (ASC) frequently report difficulties in social communications, combined with restricted inflexible behaviors. However, it is unclear whether this rigidity is pervasive across cognitive flexibility (CF) and affective flexibility (AF) in situations which resolve different social conflicts.

Objectives

To study CF and AF levels and associated brain activity in individuals with ASC.

Methods

Individuals with ASC and with typical development (TD) performed a moral dilemma task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. For CF, participants made decisions on (1) whether to enforce result-oriented actions to prioritize social/public benefits; and (2) judged whether these actions are right or wrong. For AF, participants made decisions on (1) whether to permit social norm/rule violations in sympathy-evoking situations; and (2) permit these identical violations in no sympathy-evoking situations. We calculated participants’ CF/AF levels by computing the switching-rate of decisions in CF/AF sessions (switching was defined as: CF, judging the actions as wrong but choosing to enforce the action in the same vignette; AF, judging the violations as not permissible in a no sympathy-evoking circumstance, but permissible in a sympathy-evoking circumstance).

Results

For CF, ASC participants showed a marked decrease in CF switching-rates compared to TD participants (p < 0.05), and in corresponding brain activity for executive functioning. For AF, although the AF switching rate difference was non-significant, we observed unique brain activities in each group (e.g., TD activation of the greater dorsomedial-prefrontal cortex and ASC activation of the cingulate cortex).

Conclusions

Our results suggest ASC inflexibility may be further characterized by both CF and AF.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

flexibilitydecision makingautismfMRI
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S737 - S738
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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